The present exemplary embodiments relate to automated product feed systems that carry products from an input mechanism to an output mechanism. These systems are conventionally employed in manufacturing and packaging of various products, such as food items that must be conveyed from an oven or other production machine to a wrapping or packaging apparatus. In these applications, the products are often provided by the production machine in an uncertain fashion, with products arriving at the exit of the production machine in no particular order or relative orientation. The finished products must be conveyed for wrapping or packaging in groups by an output mechanism that requires the products to be supplied in a predetermined arrangement. In the past, this has been accomplished by mechanical and human positioning at the entrance to the product wrapping/packaging machinery to avoid jamming or other machine failures associated with misaligned products. These systems are typically configured in a cross-feed arrangement with the products being moved in rows from a first conveyor belt to a second conveyor that feeds the packaging or wrapping machine, with the conveyors moving at right angles to one another, an example of which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,267, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. These cross-feed configurations require that the products be positioned in well formed rows on the first conveyor belt in order to properly transfer all the products to the second conveyor without jamming, since these two apparatus are moving in perpendicular directions. However, many production systems do not efficiently output products to the first conveyor in well formed rows, particularly when the products are sticky or coated with a material such as chocolate, or when the production line uses oven or cooling fans that displace the products. Cross-feed systems, moreover, require large amounts of floor space, and multiple conveyors and packaging machines are generally used in order to provide redundancy to accommodate jams and other faults while providing uninterrupted transfer of products at the throughput speed of the production system. Moreover, given the difficulty of maintaining well formed rows, cross-feed systems typically do not convey products at fast enough rates to maximize the full throughput capability of downstream packaging machines. Accordingly, there is a need for improved product feed systems and techniques by which automated product output systems such as packaging and wrapping machines, palletizing systems, and the like can be provided efficiently with products in predefined groupings and configurations from production machines that output the products in uncertain fashion.